The European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing - EUCAST

EUCAST is a standing committee jointly organized by ESCMID, ECDC and European national breakpoint committees. EUCAST deals with breakpoints and technical aspects of phenotypic in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing and functions as the breakpoint committee of EMA and ECDC. EUCAST does not deal with antibiotic policies, surveillance or containment of resistance or infection control. The Steering Committee is the decision making body. It is supported by a General Committee with representatives from European and other countries, FESCI and ISC. The Steering Committee also consults on EUCAST proposals with experts within the fields of infectious diseases and microbiology, pharmaceutical companies and susceptibility testing device manufacturers.

Most antimicrobial MIC breakpoints in Europe have been harmonised by EUCAST. Breakpoints for new agents are set as part of the licensing process for new agents through EMA. EUCAST breakpoints are available in devices for automated susceptibility testing but with some limitations, depending on the system. A disk diffusion susceptibility test method calibrated to EUCAST MIC breakpoints is also available.

EUCAST invites anyone with an interest in antimicrobial agents in general and antimicrobial breakpoints in particular to contact EUCAST, ESCMID or one of the National Breakpoint Committees.

Copyright

In English: The copyright of all documents and data published on the EUCAST website remains with EUCAST. All are freely available for re-use if reference to the EUCAST website is given and documents and data are not resold.Any secondary publication of the data must be referenced with the declaration that "These data have (or this document has) been produced in part under ECDC service contracts and made available at no cost by EUCAST and can be accessed freely on the EUCAST website www.eucast.org. EUCAST recommendations are frequently updated and the latest versions are available at www.eucast.org."